Evolve And Be A Better You

In the last few weeks within the blog and outside, a common theme came up it’s about you and the need to be learning new skills. I recommended it the other day.  A new friend of mine asked me what my 5 hobbies were and all but one overlapped. They were:

• Hiking
• Traveling
• Reading
• Cooking
• Learning Something New

I said learning something new as my “hobby.” It is a little bit of a cop out answer, but it was the only umbrella term that I could use because I love learning something new. It’s exciting to have your mind expanded and the first thing that comes out is “oh wow” is a great feeling. One of the things, I am still learning which are the toughest is behavioral and speaking and being a great communicator. One of the big things that I’ve tasked myself is the way I speak and how my tones affect the message, both orally and written.

A long time ago, a late friend of mine, wrote in my fifth grade year book that I needed to “calm down.” That message took about 3 years before it settled in. It did not catch on until I became class President in high school (side note: I’m so glad I lost junior and senior year because I do NOT want to plan any of the high school reunions) and I have done more listening than talking. If you ever spend time with me, you will notice I will listen more than I speak. Rarely, will I interrupt someone as they speak, even if I disagree with them. That was where I have learned to be a public speaker. No, I wasn’t always confident speaking in front of a group. When I was 13, I can remember the butterflies and the trembling voice as I delivered my message. It’s all about learning yourself and be coming a better person.

Last week, I spent a few minutes with my lovely coworker. She and I spent a few minutes discussing our background and what we wanted in our careers. She was explaining to me that she started her career as a developer and wanted to be more involved in the business like I am. Her thoughts for joining the business side is to diversify her skills and become employee. She has been away from developing for over a year and already there have been a shift in the cadence in the code. While it’s not an insurmountable task to learn, she’s committed towards learning the business. Why is that? She explained it exactly as this piece before it was published from the New York Times about Amazon.

In interviews, 40-year-old men were convinced Amazon would replace them with 30-year-olds who could put in more hours, and 30-year-olds were sure that the company preferred to hire 20-somethings who would outwork them. After Max Shipley, a father of two young children, left this spring, he wondered if Amazon would “bring in college kids who have fewer commitments, who are single, who have more time to focus on work.” Mr. Shipley is 25.

She is stepping out of her comfort zone to something new and isn’t struggling, but has hit a road bump.

It’s Not About A Transformation

I’m not saying that you should radically transform into something else, that’s not the goal. You want to take steps that will bring you to the next level. When a flock of birds fly in the V formation, the lead bird is exerting a massive amount of energy to lead the pack. When the lead bird is tired, the next one steps up and takes the helm and they continually cycle. You don’t need to be a leader all the time, but balancing what you think you can use today and tomorrow will bring you to nice place.

After you’ve learned something new, I’d love to know what you learned! If you want a head start on learning something new, try Quora my buddy PFDigest introduced me to Quora and I have been completely hooked on many of the things that have been posted. If there’s any interest areas in Quora you should follow it. I’m following entrepreneurship, travel, education, technology, and many others. There’s too much to read, but if there’s an interesting question posted, I’ll make the time to read it.

There’s this one post “What are some mind-blowing facts that sound like ‘BS’, but are actually true?” and I’ve learned so many things. Great conversation topics if you ever find yourself in a lull. Like who knew Ikea is owned by a non profit organization?

If you’ve made it this far in the post, I commend you because I want to tell you something about what led me to my bigger transformation. Wired Magazine. This magazine covers many diverse topics and is absolutely amazing. I’ve been a print subscriber for at least 8 years and I used to read each issue cover to cover, until I realized I didn’t really care for the opinion pieces so I stopped reading that. Here’s an article from Wired that jumpstarted me into where I am today. A PhD student hacked OKCupid and found his wife because he played the system. Articles like that are eye opening and builds upon my insatiable desire to learn. After you read the article, email me, I’d like to know your thoughts.